Lot 138. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, jue, Late Shang-early Western Zhou Dynasty; Height 19 cm, 7½ in. Estimate: 15,000 - 20,000 GBP. Lot sold: 18,900 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the deep U-shaped body raised on three splayed blade feet, cast with a band of taotie masks reserved on a dense leiwen ground, one side set with a loop handle, beneath a long, channelled spout opposite a raised point forming the rim, surmounted by a pair of rectangular posts rising to mushroom-cap finials two pictograms below the handle, wood stand.